A couple of weekends ago I went home. A good college friend was having her baby shower in the Roanoke area, and I hadn't seen her for at least two years. It was also the first weekend that Salmaan and I have been apart since we got married--it was a little weird, but good for both of us, I think. I had a wonderful time. Seeing Julia again was pretty fantastic--it's so nice when you realize you have friends that love you no matter what, and who are easy to be around. She's a cute pregnant mommy--it just looks like she has a basketball stuffed under her shirt--other than that she looks exactly the same! After the shower we were sitting around her parents' dinner table, just talking and visiting, and she kept grabbing my hand to feel the baby move. It was incredible.
Another nice part about the weekend was the garden bounty I brought home from Mom and Dad's garden. They're always so generous. Along with a ton of tomatoes and other herbs, there was this incredible bouquet of fresh, fragrant basil.
Now, my man LOVES pesto. He had it for the first time at my parents' house after we started dating, and ever since then it's been one of his favorite meals. I, on the other hand, have never been a huge fan, so we don't have it very much. However, when I brought this basil home I knew we had to whip up a batch. He was so excited, and dove right into making it with me.
We had about 1 Tbs of pine nuts in the pantry--not enough to make a batch without going to the store first. Pine nuts are EXPENSIVE, so I looked to see what else we had on hand. Last time we were in Chicagovisiting Salmaan's family, his friend Fareed Ali gave us a TON of nuts from his Middle Eastern Market--among those were a large bag of almonds which I had been storing in the freezer. We used them as a substitute.
They worked WONDERFULLY, and made a gorgeously thick, fragrant pesto paste.
We used it twice that week--once with farfalle pasta and shredded rotisserie chicken (SO YUM, although the photo I took of it wasn't great, and thus, is not included here). We also used it as a base for a pesto and goat cheese pizza that we whipped up when our friend Amanda came over one night. Note the beautiful yellow and red heirloom tomatoes. I have to say that I LOVED this pesto, and I think it's because we subbed the almonds for the pine nuts. I'll never make it with pine nuts again. You could also sub walnuts, but I haven't tried that, yet.
There is only one more meal left out of the batch we made that weekend *sad face*. However, yesterday when I was spending some time in the yard, I realized that my basil had survived the enormously long dry spell and water restrictions, and had in fact seeded all over its corner of the flower bed. There was a mess of it--just enough to make one more large batch of homemade pesto. Salmaan and I whipped it up this morning, and it has settled into the freezer, expectantly waiting to reemerge on some cold winter day when the taste of summer will be a welcome repast.
Here's our recipe (note, we doubled this each time):
Combine in a food processor and process to a rough paste the following:
- 2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan (I can't emphasize enough what a difference FRESHLY grated parmesan makes tothe store-bought grated parmesan...)
- 1/3 cup almonds
- 2 medium garlic cloves, peeled
With the machine running. slowly add 1/2 cup of olive oil, or as needed. If the pesto seems dry (it should be a thick paste), add a little more olive oil. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. If you aren't using it immediately, you can cover it with a thin film of olive oil, and refrigerate it for up to a week. Or, you can freeze it for up to 3 months. If you're using it for a pasta meal, reserve some of the pasta water (1/2 cup) to thin it out when you mix it up with the pasta. You've got to try this recipe. As Salmaan says, "Pesto is one of the sexiest meals there is..."
Another incredible surprise from that weekend was my Mom. I taught her to knit a couple of summers ago, but it didn't really take. She made a couple of scarves, but not knowing what I was doing (I taught her the same day I taught myself), I started her off on long, clicky aluminum needles, and some pretty nasty acrylic bumpy yarn. When we went to the Orchardside Yarn Shop recently, I think she was surprised at how passionate I am about my knitting, and started to see the craft in a different light.
We sat down at the table together on Friday night, and I brought out the different projects I had with me to show her. She touched my Malabrigo tenderly, and asked again, "Do you think I can do this?" At that point I got serious, and started in on how I think that everyone (especially women) need to be self-reliant enough to teach themselves how to do things (I feel very strongly about this), and that while I would help her, I wouldn't be able to teach her step-by-step given that I don't live in town. As I gave this speech, she kept laughing, harder and harder, until the tears came. Which of course, absolutely incensed me, given that I feel so intensely about the subject (both knitting, and self-reliance). Finally, she couldn't take it any longer. She ran downstairs and came back up with these:
Two sets of the most uniform beginner dishcloths I've ever seen.
She had gone back to Orchardside by herself, and got a quick tutorial (as well as some nice, 10" bamboo needles), and had been making these for me as a surprise for Christmas. I couldn't have been more thrilled. She HAD taught herself, and not only that, she's got the bug. She takes her knitting with her everywhere, she does it before bed instead of reading, and she's starting to search for new patterns to expand her skill-set. I am so PROUD of her, and not only that, I'm also selfishly quite thrilled for me. Knitting has become such a passionate aspect of my identity, and now I have that in common with my Mother: I get to share that with her. We're really different people, so for me? This is huge. Not only that, but she's GOOD at it--these were her first tries, on her OWN, and look how uniform those stitches are!
You won't be surprised that I took her right to the computer and ordered some chunky Malabrigo for her first real scarf. She's received it in the mail, and loves it. Like daughter like mother....;-) I'm proud of you, Mom.
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